Embioptera

Taxobox
name = Webspinner
fossil_range=Jurassic - Recent

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regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
subclassis = Pterygota
infraclassis = Neoptera
ordo = Embioptera
ordo_authority = Lameere, 1900
subdivision_ranks = Families
subdivision = There are 2 suborders and 10 families:
Andesembiidae
Anisembiidae
Australembiidae
Clothodidae
Embiidae
Embonychidae
Notoligotomidae
Oligotomidae
Teratembiidae
Sorellembiidae

Webspinners or embiids (order Embioptera) are a small group of mostly tropical and subtropical insects, classified under the subclass Pterygota. The order has also been referred to as Embiodea or Embiidina [Borror, Triplehorn and Delong. "An Introduction to the Study of Insects" (sixth edition). page 247. Harcourt Brace College Publishers. 1989.] The name "Embioptera" ("lively wings") comes from Greek, "embio" meaning "lively" and "ptera" meaning "wings", and refers to the fluttery movement of wings that was observed in the first male specimen described. The group probably first appeared during the Jurassic and is well represented in Cretaceous amber. All the females are wingless, and in some species also the males. Webspinners spin silk from structures on their front legs. They use the silk to make a weblike pouch or gallery in which they live. The galleries may be found in leaf litter, under rocks, or under bark.

The order contains only some 300 species.

References

*cite book|author=Grimaldi, D. and Engel, M.S. |title=Evolution of the Insects|year=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|id=ISBN 0-521-82149-5